Fender Design - Wheel Arch Challenge

TITLE:FENDER DESIGN-WHEEL ARCH

AIM

Study the Wheel Arch area and prove whether the car will pass the standards or not using European regulations.

Introduction

Wheel arch comes with some standard specifications. When viewed from the front or top side of the vehicle, if the tyre is protruding outside the fender, that would lead to more chipping while driving and compromises pedestrian as well as the vehicle safety. Taking these factors into consideration, the wheel/tyre has to be positioned inside the tyre.

There are different regulations in this regard based on different regions. This case study has been done according to European regulations.

As explained in the diagram below, the minimum clearance ‘L’ recommended at all the 5 points on the wheel arch shown here should be 10mm, the points being SB,SA,SC,SD,SE.

If the curvature clearance is not matching the standards then the model needs to be modified accordingly.

Analysis

The part file was opened using CATIA V5 and the aforementioned points were plotted on the wheel arch after taking the required measurements from the Wheel centre.

The clearance value \'L\' was measured and found to be as follows-

Section	Required Clearance (mm)	Measured Clearance 'L' (mm)	Remarks
SB	10	10	Pass
SC	10	2.936	Fail
SD	10	0.222	Fail
SE	10	3.152	Fail

CONCLUSION

Barring one section (SB), all others fail to achieve the minimum gap requirement of 10mm according to the European regulations. In addition to this, there is also protrusion of the wheel outside the wheel arch, which is not recommended. Therefore the model needs to be modified accordingly.